Events

Suspect Arrested After Tow Truck Theft, Series Of Crashes

DENVER (CBS4) – Police say they have located a man who is suspected of causing a series of crashes involving stolen vehicles in Aurora and Denver.

The man, who police have identified as Adam B. Manlove, 24, was arrested in Boulder at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the parking lot after a crash there.

Police said Manlove stole a car at a gas station near Smoky Hill and Picadilly and then was involved in a head-on crash took place at Tower Road and 6th. He then stole another car and crash it near 6th and Del Mar, according to police. After that crash police said they think Manlove fled on foot and stole a tow truck near 6th and Toledo.

That tow truck may have then been involved in a crash with another car at Yosemite and Lowry. That car was left with some front end damage. The driver, Katie Winberg, who is pregnant, told CBS4 she saw the tow truck swerving and tried to get out of the way but wound up getting hit.

“I noticed a tow truck that swerving all over the road, going in between lanes and ducking while he was driving,” Winberg said. “When I got hit I immediately started crying … I was thinking we were going to pull over and try to work it out and this huge tow truck just kept driving through the intersection and almost hit a bunch of other people going through the roundabout.”

(credit: CBS)

The truck was involved in a series of crashes and then crashed into a couple of cars for a final time at Colfax and Perry near the former location of St. Anthony’s Hospital.

“All of a sudden I feel a very strong force hit me from the back. It just kept going (and) pushed me into the car in front and totally smashed my car,” Brad Thacher said. “I felt whatever hit me go past to the right of me, and that was the last I knew.”